It was the people who won – General Sarath Fonseka

by Ranil Wijayapala

General Sarath Fonseka former Army Commander who directed the Army to wipe out LTTE terrorism from the country had to fight another battle on the political platform when he decided to step down from his military position and contest the 2010 Presidential election as the common opposition candidate against President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

His defeat at the 2010 presidential election gave the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime ample room to seek vengeance against him and rip him off his titles, his military ranks, decorations and convert him to a civilian sans any of the credentials he earned and deprived him of even his civic rights and sent him to jail.

Even his seat in Parliament and his pension as a retired Army Officer were forfeited. President Maitripala Sirisena who defected from the Rajapaksa Government and challenged him at the election, granted a Presidential amnesty and restored the rights of General Fonseka acquitting him of all charges.

The Sunday Observer in an interview with General Sarath Fonseka, just a day after the restoration of his position as General had the opportunity to share his views and talk his present and future political life.

Excerpts of the interview.

Q:You had experienced a difficult period after the previous Presidential election in 2010. Now you have been acquitted of all charges against you under a Presidential amnesty by President Maitripala Sirisena. What do you feel about it now?

A: When I was in the Army for 40 years, I only worked for the country. I did not work towards my future, personnel gain or anything like that. during the LTTE period, we had a task at hand and we accomplished that. After that we realized former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was ruining the country with the corrupt people around him.

He had no agenda for the country. When I realised this, I thought that there was no point in serving a man of that calibre. It was then I decided to come out from the Army and 'fight' against him.

As a first step entering politics was the only option to save the country. Then he took revenge from us. He took uncompromising revenge with bogus charges against me and put me in jail.

He was boasting and said that he I will have to die in jail. His brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said he will hang me. They were threatening me and said they will put the Fonseka family on the street.

Not only did they harass me, they harassed my wife and children too and tried to destroy us. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was attempting to erase my name from the history of the country and even military history. But I fought back. I started that fight five years ago. I did a difficult, challenging and dangerous fight. Because he was abusing the war victory, abusing law and order, the powers vested in him and manipulated the judiciary to destroy me and my family.

But I fought for the sake of the country and I had to survive to save the country. Now we have relegated him to the political wilderness and the country is free. People are happy and now they are smiling and experience a sense of freedom. We are also happy.

Now of course we are looking to the future. Of course we have to take the Rajapaksas and his family, his henchmen and his corrupt catchers who were around them to task. We have to hold them accountable and answerable for all that they have been doing for the last so many years because damage has already been done to the country.

Q:Do you take this as an individual achievement or an achievement of the people?

A:I achieved victory in the war with the assistance of my men with their commitment . Without their support and commitment we couldn’t have achieved that.

Once again we achieved a political goal because the people supported us and they o wanted an end to this problem.

People were determined and were also courageous as they were under immense pressure and were scared but they were fighting . They have supported us in whatever way they could.

This is not an individual victory. Of course I fought back for five years. At different stages different people came and assisted me. Finally we had a good team.

But I went through this for five years I fought head with Rajapaksa. I had direct confrontation. Finally the people have won in this country.

Q:The previous regime wanted to keep you out of politics. Now you have the freedom to achieve your goals in the political arena. So what are your prospects in the new Government and also in the political field?

A: I was not doing politics in the way politicians are interested and the way other political leaders do. There are many politicians in this country pursuing their agendas. I don’t have personal agendas in politics.

What I want to see is this country being developed, people being elevated and to see a developed nation. Wherever I can do this I will do it.

Of course I must be in a position with responsibilities. That is a part of the game. I will try to get some authority to work for the people. Without authority we can’t do this. That is why I came into politics.

I am not aiming at a particular target or any particular achievement for myself or for a political future agenda. But I will be here to serve the people to ensure that their aspirations are met. I will try to get to a position with some authority and I will serve them.

Q: There are reports that you will be made Field Martial in respect of your military achievements, when will it happen?

A: There were many predictions and the subject has been discussed at different levels. Senior politicians and various people have recommended this. They have been talking about it for a long period, especially after the victory of the election.

I am not demanding or I am not greedy to get these promotions and decorations. When the Government, the President and Prime Minister decide and agree, the promotion will come.

Q: What are the possibilities of you entering Parliament?

A: To enter Parliament somebody has to resign from Parliament and give me a seat.

Q: MP Jayantha Ketagoda has already said that he will resign from his seat if it is given back to you?

A: He has said that and we are waiting to see whether he will do what he has said. Saying is not enough, he has to prove it now. If he proves it and some avenues open there will be an opportunity for me to enter Parliament.

There are legal issues I have to iron out in certain areas. When everything is cleared I will enter Parliament. Otherwise I will wait. There is no problem because I have waited for such a long time to get rid of this corrupt leader who had done dirty politics. I have no problems even waiting a few months to contest in an election and to enter Parliament.

Q: The Government had done justice by giving you a Presidential Amnesty. But there are thousands of personnel who have been harassed and removed from their positions not only for supporting you at the 2010 Presidential campaign but also having personal connection with you. As a partner of this Government how will you ensure that justice would be done to them as well?

A: We have begun making preparations to do justice to everyone who was faced injustice and those who were victimized on various issues. We have already started working on that.

There will be a Human Rights Violation Committee, a commission or a special arrangement to look into human rights violations or political victimization. We will see that justice would be meted out to everyone who faced injustice and victimization in politics.

Q: Will there be special attention for military personnel who have been victimized and removed from service?

A: Justice would be meted out to them and they will be looked after.

Q: There is a perception that the dignity and pride the military personnel had as war heroes was changed during the past four years. What are the steps the new Government has taken to maintain the dignity of war heroes?

A: We have put a halt to the humiliation faced by the military meted out by the previous President, specially the former Defence Secretary.

The former Defence Secretary harassed the military like a maniac. He didn’t know what his position was. Even when he was in the Army he used to behave like that.

On certain occasions, there were soldiers assaulted him because of the same behaviour he had while serving in the Army. He was behaving like a maniac.

He thought that doing national service was a labourer’s job . He couldn’t see the difference between the role of a dignified military and the role of a labourer.

I was wondering why he was not involved in cleaning just as much as he wanted the soldiers to do it. He has to do it first and set an example.

Now we have stopped all of that. They will not have to involved in this type of activity in the future.

Q: What about the welfare of soldiers ?

A:They were neglected during the Rajapaksa regime. They have not been looked after well. Their welfare has been neglected.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stolen all the money collected from the people under the pretext of the Api Venuven Api scheme. Last month prior to the elections he has sent Rs.150 million out of that fund to an account abroad.

He has stolen that money. Seven billion rupees was collected and he has built only about 300 two roomed houses. Those houses are not enough for the soldiers to live in.

He has stolen all the other money. But we will ensure that soldiers and their families are looked after and the welfare of the senior ranks and everyone else in the army will be taken care of. They will be given due respect in the military.

Q: Military personnel were engaged in certain projects to keep the environment clean and beautiful. Don’t you think by withdrawing them from these services will affect these beautification projects ?

A: We have systems in lace for that. For instance the Colombo Municipal Council and other Local Councils can do those services.

There are people who are responsible for cleaning jobs and maintenance and beautification. They are paid for these jobs and I don’t see why the former Defence Secretary has started planting flowers and keeping flower pots.

He even began cleaning and developing canals. He didn’t know what his job entailed. He has done everything else. That should not be the case.

Q: One charge against you was that you had engaged in politics while in military service. What were you observations about the military personnel involved during the presidential election campaign?

A: We can’t blame the military as a whole. I think 95 per cent of the Army behaved very well and they conducted themselves in a proper manner. But only five per cent of Army personnel due to wrong instructions given by the Chief of Defence Staff and the Army Commander and a handpicked number of seniors backed them, acted n a contrary manner.

They were using them for various illegal activitiessuch as the poster campaign, intimidating people and harassing others. Chief of Defence Staff, the Army Commander and some of the seniors are directly responsible for that.

Q: The Government is claiming that there was an alleged coup attempt on the night of the election day ?

A: On election night we heard that there was an attempted coup d'etat. CDS and the Army Commander had brought 2000 soldiers from several areas and deployed them without the permission of the Police or the Elections Commissioner.

They were preparing and discussing to take over power when election results were moving in president Maitiripala Sirisena's favour or to create problems somewhere in Colombo and impose emergency and then intimidate the Elections Commissioner to remain in power. That was their plan.

Otherwise why should the Army Commander deploy 2000 troops to Colombo. We had an operations branch and people complained from Army Headquarters.

They gave us maps, troop deployment and the additional troops who came into Colombo.

They have appointed a Major General in charge of that deployment not the normal deployment under normal circumstances. There is more than enough evidence to show that there was a coup attempt.

President, Defence Secretary , Chief of Defence staff and the Army Commander were directly involved in this.

Q: One challenge before this Government is facing international pressure on conducting investigations on war crime charges against the military at the final stages of the war.

As a partner of this Government how do you think the Government should act to negate these allegations. Already Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has stated that this Government would not allow any international investigators to Sri Lanka. So how will this will be settled ?

A: Even other countries have said initially there should be an internal investigations to see if there is credible evidence to that effect.

I know because I commanded the war, the Army as a whole did not commit any crime. We abided by international rules and regulations and the law of the country.

We respected battle filed rules and regulations. We did not commit any crime. I am ready to answer any commission anywhere in the world about it.

But if there is credible information about any individual violating instructions given by me they are liable to face the law.

In the past also we had similar situations such as the Mirusavil case, Chrishanthi Kumaraswamy case and the Kataragama Manamperi case.

If anyone has violated law and order they have to face the law after that. If there is credible evidence there is no question about taking legal action against them.

I am not going to safeguard anybody who has violated the law. They have to face it. It has to be done locally first.

If there is credible evidence, and if the normal procedure is not adopted then the international community specially the United Nations complaints, we have to clear out what they are saying and whether there is any truth what they are saying.

Q: Will there be fresh investigation on these lines?

A: Already people are complaining. There are some mechanisms to address those complaints.

The LLRC complaints can’t be relegated to the back burner. Somebody will have to look into these things and find out whether they are credible complaints. If there are, we will have to conduct inquiries.

Q: What action would be taken with regard to the Security Forces deployed in the North and East. Already there is an ongoing debate on this issue?

A: The Security Forces will not be withdrawn. The required number will be deployed. We will ensure that the people are not harassed by their presence. The Security Forces are waiting to join their families in Colombo and other places in the South.

They don't want to stay in the North. But the required numbers needed for the security of the country will be kept. The Army can’t go and stay in the sea or somewhere. We will ensure that required numbers are kept and we will ensure that people are not unnecessarily harassed not only in the North but also in the East, South and everywhere.

Q: Are you happy with the way the Government is acting on corruption charges and other allegations regarding the previous regime ?

A: At the moment yes. We have given a good start. We will definitely take action against all the corrupt deals. Nobody will escape.

Q: Will it happen under the law of the country or under a special mechanisms ?

A: There will be special arrangement. A commission will be appointed. It will consist of legal experts , ex-Police officers. There will be a committee consisting of party leaders and Members of Parliament. We are directing the other sub committees. We will ensure that nobody will escape.

Q: You said that you need some authority and responsibility to serve the people. When will that responsibility be given to you?

A: As I said earlier becoming an MP is needed. We are trying to open avenues for that. I am already in some of the committees. I will do whatever I can while I am in these committees. This will be over after a hundred days.

Subsequently a new Government will be formed. We will be there again after the election also.

Q: You had an agreement with the common opposition and President Maitripala Sirisena prior to the election?

A: We had an agreement with Maitripala Sirisena and the UNP - the most powerful political party in the country.

Q: Will you be contest in the forthcoming general election under the Democratic Party or with any other alliance ?

A: We will contest the election definitely under Democratic Party.

Q: You are not going to form any alliances with any other party?

A:After the election to form a Government we will join other parties. But at the general election we will contest separately. The UNP will contest separately and President Maitriplala Sirisena will field candidates from the SLFP.

We need smaller parties also to put pressure and monitor the activities of the Government. Otherwise it will also become a government similar to Mahinda Rajapaksa’s. The smaller parties within the Mahinda Rajapaksa alliance had to act like puppets. Mahinda Rajapaksa used them to achieve whatever task the he wanted to achieve.

Q: What will happen after the general election. There is a confusion among the people as to what is going to happen?

A: All political parties in this Government will contest separately at the general election and they will form a national government after the election.

Q: Will you be the Defence Minister in it?

A: Will watch the way things go.